Young Brewers Tracker: Bickford, Ortiz make Milwaukee organizational debuts
The Milwaukee Brewers are reshaping their franchise with an injection of youth and prospects.
Every Thursday for the rest of the season, FOX Sports Wisconsin will take a closer look at some specific young players -- as well as noting others who might be stepping up -- measuring, highlighting and evaluating their progress. Please note the glossary of advanced stats at the bottom of the story.
This is the 17th edition of the Young Brewers Tracker.
(Note: To thin the herd somewhat we've taken Wendell Rijo, who was acquired from Boston in the Aaron Hill trade, out of the Tracker as he is batting just .137 on the season in 27 games.)
Orlando Arcia (age 22)
Zach Davies (age 23)
Jonathan Villar (age 25)
Phil Bickford (age 21/Single-A)
Lewis Brinson (age 22/Triple-A)
Trent Clark (age 19/Single-A)
Isan Diaz (age 20/Single-A)
Lucas Erceg (age 21/Single-A)
Josh Hader (age 22/Triple-A)
Gilbert Lara (age 18/Rookie)
Jacob Nottingham (age 21/Double-A)
Luis Ortiz (age 20/Double-A)
Brett Phillips (Age 22/Double-A)
Corey Ray (age 21/Single-A)
Andrew Susac (age 26/Triple-A)
Others: RHP Ariel Pena, acquired from the Angels in the Zack Greinke trade, was released. Pena was the last player left in the Brewers organization from that deal. . . . LHP Wei-Chung Wang was promoted to Colorado Springs and went 5 IP with 1 UER in his first start. . . . . The Brandon Woodruff (11th round, 2014) watch: The right-hander has allowed just two earned runs in his last 43 2/3 IP at Biloxi. . . . Clint Coulter (1st round, 2012) was promoted to Biloxi. In his first 5 games with the Shuckers he is hitting 583/667/583 with 6 R. . . . Biloxi 3B Dustin DeMuth (5th round, 2014) continues to rake since his recall. Last week he hit .409 and is batting 385/418/500 in 14 games. . . . RHP Devin Williams (2nd round, 2013) was promoted to Brevard County. He had a 3.61 ERA with Wisconsin. . . . Helena 3B Ronnie Gideon (23rd round, 2016) hit .483 with 7 2B, 2 HR and 10 RBI last week.
A glossary of some of the advanced statistics used:
Statistics courtesy baseball-reference.com and milb.com
Dave Heller is the author of the upcoming book Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow as well as Facing Ted Williams Players from the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived and As Good As It Got: The 1944 St. Louis Browns
